Overview

• Federal addiction commissioner Hendrik Streeck calls for strict, tiered minimum ages and effective age verification on platforms such as TikTok to limit youth overuse.
• Streeck describes heavy use as a behavioral addiction, citing averages of four hours on social networks plus two hours of gaming and two hours of streaming, while opposing blanket school phone bans.
• The German Child Protection Association and the Sozialverband Deutschland reject blanket age thresholds and urge safer online spaces, mandatory media education, and the inclusion of young people in solutions.
• Questions over legality and feasibility persist, with North Rhine-Westphalia media minister Nathanael Liminski warning of enforcement and technical hurdles for broad bans.
• Family minister Karin Prien’s commission on digital child and youth protection is set to begin work, as parallel reviews target child-oriented vape flavors and evaluate Germany’s cannabis rules.